Journal of clinical ultrasound : JCU
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Emergency abdominal sonography has become a common modality worldwide in the evaluation of injuries caused by blunt trauma. The sensitivity of sonography in the detection of hemoperitoneum varies, and little is known about the accuracy of sonography in the detection of injuries to specific organs. The purpose of this study was to determine the overall accuracy of sonography in the detection of hemoperitoneum and solid-organ injury caused by blunt trauma. ⋯ Emergency sonography to evaluate patients for injury caused by blunt trauma is highly accurate and specific. The sonographic detection of free fluid is only moderately sensitive for diagnosing IAI, but the combination of free fluid and/or a parenchymal abnormality is more sensitive.
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Ectopic pregnancy is a leading cause of pregnancy-related deaths; its incidence has progressively increased in recent years. Spontaneous twin ectopic pregnancy, however, is extremely rare. Among more than 100 reported cases of twin tubal pregnancies, only 5 cases in which fetal cardiac motion has been visualized in both embryos have been reported. ⋯ However, with transvaginal sonography, we determined the left adnexal mass to contain a single monochorionic gestational sac with 2 embryos, each with cardiac motion. These findings were confirmed with color Doppler sonography and at laparotomy. The introduction of high-resolution transvaginal sonography has resulted in the earlier diagnosis of ectopic pregnancy and has contributed to a recent decrease in the maternal mortality and morbidity associated with this condition.
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The aim of this study was to compare the sensitivities of visual and densitometric analyses of CT scans and transcranial Doppler sonograms (TCD) in detecting early changes in acute stroke. ⋯ In some patients, the use of TCD in acute stroke may show alterations that reflect tissue damage that is undetectable on CT. Therefore, CT and TCD should be considered complementary diagnostic tools in the acute phase of stroke.
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Although spontaneous hemorrhage into the sheath of the rectus abdominis muscle is uncommon in pregnancy, rectus sheath hematomas (RSHs) should be considered in patients who present with an acute onset of abdominal pain in the latter half of pregnancy or the immediate postpartum period. Both sonography and CT are useful in diagnosing RSHs. ⋯ Sonography showed a large mass of mixed echogenicity with no internal vascularity. CT confirmed that the lesion was suprafacial.